--bound1325078065
Chemical Safety Headlines From Google
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 8:12:28 AM
A service of the ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety
Connecting Chemistry and Safety at http://www.dchas.org
All article summaries and tags are archived at http://pinboard.in/u:dchas
Table of Contents (9 articles)
FELONY CHARGES FILED AGAINST UC AND A UCLA CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR AFTER FATAL LABORATORY FIRE
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, death, follow-up
CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES I-70 (12/27/11)
Tags: us_IN, transportation, release, death, acetone
ADAMS PLATING: LESSONS LEARNED
Tags: us_MI, industrial, fire, response, waste, follow-up
TANKER FIRE IN SOUTHINGTON
Tags: us_CT, transportation, fire, response, petroleum
WA POLICE UNCOVER 179TH CLAN LAB FOR YEAR
Tags: Australia, public, discovery, response, meth_lab
STUDY: SAN FRANCISCO BAY OIL SPILL DAMAGED HERRING
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, environmental, petroleum
ANOTHER CHEMICAL RELEASE AT DELAWARE CITY REFINERY ACROSS RIVER FROM SALEM COUNTY REPORTED
Tags: us_DE, industrial, release, environmental, sulfur_dioxide
CHLORINE LEAK CONTAINED
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, chlorine
CHEMICAL LEAK AT FACTORY IN BOX HILL SOUTH
Tags: Australia, industrial, release, response, bleach
---------------------------------------------
FELONY CHARGES FILED AGAINST UC AND A UCLA CHEMISTRY PROFESSOR AFTER FATAL LABORATORY FIRE
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1228-ucla-death-20111228,0,7543387.story
Tags: us_CA, laboratory, explosion, death, follow-up
Felony charges have been filed against the University of California and a UCLA chemistry professor in connection with a laboratory fire that killed a staff research assistant three years ago.
On Dec. 29, 2008, Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji, 23, was severely burned over nearly half of her body when air-sensitive chemicals burst into flames during an experiment and ignited her clothing. Sangji, who was not wearing a protective lab coat, died 18 days later.
Her death raised questions about lab safety practices at UCLA and about Sangji's training and supervision by professor Patrick Harran, a prominent researcher who joined the faculty in July 2008.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charged Harran and the UC regents with three counts each of willfully violating occupational health and safety standards, resulting in Sangji's death. Harran and UCLA are accused of failing to correct unsafe work conditions in a timely manner, to require clothing appropriate for the work being done and to provide proper chemical safety training.
An arrest warrant was issued for Harran, 42, who faces up to 41/2 years in state prison, according to a district attorney's spokeswoman. Harran is out of town and will surrender to authorities when he returns, said his lawyer, Thomas O'Brien, who declined to comment further.
UCLA could be fined up to $1.5 million on each of the three counts. In separate statements Tuesday, UCLA and the regents called the charges unwarranted. UCLA's statement blasted them as "outrageous" and "appalling."
"This isn't justice," Kevin Reed, UCLA vice chancellor for legal affairs, said in an interview. "What happened in December 2008 was a tragedy, an unfathomable tragedy. It was not a crime."
Sangji's family, led by her older sister Naveen, has been harshly critical of UCLA officials and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health's investigations. Naveen Sangji said Tuesday that she hopes the criminal case goes to trial so her family "has the opportunity to speak to the court" about what happened to her sister.
"As we have been saying all along, the filing of charges is the first step toward any kind of justice for what Harran and UCLA did to our family," she said. "It won't bring Sheri back, but we do hope this will help keep other young people safe and keep other families from being destroyed."
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL SPILL CLOSES I-70 (12/27/11)
http://www.thebraziltimes.com/story/1798503.html
Tags: us_IN, transportation, release, death, acetone
PUTNAMVILLE -- A one-vehicle accident Monday afternoon claimed the life of a tanker truck driver and created a hazardous materials spill on Interstate-70 near the Putnam-Clay county line.
At approximately 4:15 p.m., Monday, a tanker truck, reportedly carrying the industrial solvent acetone, left the roadway for an unknown reason, striking a cement bridge support near County Road 775 West, just east of the 30-mile marker in the westbound lanes of I-70.
No other vehicles were involved.
Upon impact, the tanker trailer overturned and nearly broke in half, releasing approximately 6,000 gallons of highly flammable hazardous industrial solvent.
---------------------------------------------
ADAMS PLATING: LESSONS LEARNED
http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/Adam_136284633.html?ref=633
Tags: us_MI, industrial, fire, response, waste, follow-up
A year after Adams Plating went up in flames, there's nothing left but lessons learned.
"First thing we would do is contact agencies like the EPA sooner than we did," said Sgt. Robert Ott, Ingham County Emergency Manager. "We were kind of at a loss for a day or so what to do."
Ingham County has had its eye on the EPA superfund site for decades, but hindsight's 20/20.
"We had a plan in place as to what we were going to do in case there was an incident, a hazmat incident, but add 40,000 gallons of water from putting the fire out, and it causes some issues we weren't necessarily prepared to...I shouldn't say prepared to handle, but something we were not expecting at the time," Ott said.
County hazmat teams contained hazardous waste to the site. Then the EPA removed the waste, demolished the building, and dug up contaminated ground water and soil.
---------------------------------------------
TANKER FIRE IN SOUTHINGTON
http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/hartford_cty/southington-tanker-fire
Tags: us_CT, transportation, fire, response, petroleum
Southington, Conn. (WTNH) - A high speed police chase ended in a fiery scene in Southington, when a stolen vehicle crashed into a tanker truck Tuesday afternoon.
Evacuations were ordered in the vicinity of Routes 10 and 322 in Southington following the crash, which occurred around 3:30 p.m.
"Until we could ascertain exactly what was going on we evacuated a quarter mile in all directions," said Harold Clark, Southington Fire Chief. "Then we were able to attack the fire itself."
"And it wasn't three or four minutes and the flames were everywhere," said local resident Tom Kammer. "They got to a point where they were about 125 feet high."
The crash knocked out power in the immediate area and the smell of burning fuel was in the air.
The car was stolen out of Woodbury, according to State Police. A trooper spotted the stolen car in Waterbury, but ended the pursuit "due to hazardous conditions," State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said in a statement.
---------------------------------------------
WA POLICE UNCOVER 179TH CLAN LAB FOR YEAR
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8395407/wa-police-uncover-179th-clan-lab-for-year
Tags: Australia, public, discovery, response, meth_lab
West Australian police have busted their 179th clandestine drug lab for the year, and arrested six men.
The lab was discovered in a suburban home in Kewdale, in Perth's southeast, early on Tuesday morning.
The lab is one of seven uncovered in the past six days and the 179th busted by WA Police this year, police say.
Last year, police uncovered 163 clandestine labs.
---------------------------------------------
STUDY: SAN FRANCISCO BAY OIL SPILL DAMAGED HERRING
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Study-San-Francisco-Bay-oil-spill-damaged-herring-2425689.php
Tags: us_CA, transportation, release, environmental, petroleum
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) =97 The cargo ship accident that dumped tens of thousands of gallons of thick, tarry ship fuel into San Francisco Bay caused lasting damage to the region's once-plentiful schools of Pacific herring, the bay's only commercially fished species, according to a study released Monday.
Herring embryos collected from shorelines left coated in oil starting about 3 months after the November 2007 Cosco Busan spill suffered from unusually high death rates and a range of ailments and deformities associated with exposure to the chemicals in crude oil, the study found.
"The majority of embryos in samples from oiled sites were dead on examination in the laboratory," wrote the study's authors, who were led by John Incardona, a toxicologist with the fisheries division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
---------------------------------------------
ANOTHER CHEMICAL RELEASE AT DELAWARE CITY REFINERY ACROSS RIVER FROM SALEM COUNTY REPORTED
http://www.nj.com/salem/index.ssf/2011/12/another_chemical_release_at_de.html
Tags: us_DE, industrial, release, environmental, sulfur_dioxide
DELAWARE CITY, Del. =97 Less than a month after a power failure caused the release of hazardous chemicals at the Delaware City Refinery here, another release has been reported.
According to radio station WDEL-AM, the incident took place early Thursday morning at the refinery located directly across the Delaware river from Salem City.
The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control says the refinery released 100 gallons of sulfur dioxide into the air.
On Nov. 27 a power outage at the refinery resulted in A power failure prompted the activation of incinerator towers that lit up the night sky with large flame plumes and caused rumblings heard as far east as Elmer.
---------------------------------------------
CHLORINE LEAK CONTAINED
http://www.jdnews.com/news/contained-98736-chlorine-city.html
Tags: us_NC, industrial, release, response, chlorine
Chlorine leaking at Jacksonville's Wastewater Land Application Treatment Plant this morning was contained before it left the building, according to city officials.
The City of Jacksonville contained a small amount of chlorine leaking from a tank delivered Wednesday, according to a city release.
A small amount of chlorine leaked from what is suspected to be a malfunctioning tank valve, according to the release. The leak was discovered at around 6:15 a.m. by an automated system that also began an air-scrubbing process that converts the chlorine gas into liquid bleach for safe disposal.
---------------------------------------------
CHEMICAL LEAK AT FACTORY IN BOX HILL SOUTH
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/chemical-leak-at-factory-in-box-hill-south/story-fn7x8me2-1226230867386
Tags: Australia, industrial, release, response, bleach
FIREFIGHTERS are working to contain a chemical leak in Melbourne's east.
A Melbourne Fire Brigade spokesman said about 1000 litres of hypochlorite had leaked at the SCA Hygiene factory in Box Hill South.
He said the leak was contained to a controlled area in a basement of the building and did not pose any threat to nearby homes.
Hazmat teams and eight fire trucks were on site after they received the first calls around 11.40pm.
Hypochlorite is listed as a common ingredient in bleach, disinfectant and common cleaning products.
---------------------------------------------
--bound1325078065--

The content of this page reflects the personal opinion(s) of the author(s) only, not the American Chemical Society, ILPI, Safety Emporium, or any other party. Use of any information on this page is at the reader's own risk. Unauthorized reproduction of these materials is prohibited. Send questions/comments about the archive to secretary@dchas.org.The maintenance and hosting of the DCHAS-L archive is provided through the generous support of Safety Emporium.